Steam & Excursion > Steam engine crew related question

Did / do steam engines have any facility for crewmembers to relieve themselves? Did they use a bucket, and just toss the contents overboard?

No toilets on steam power.     Just stand in the gangway and pee.   Of course you get so dehydrated on a steam engine you never have to pee.

Richard.

yooperfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Did / do steam engines have any facility for
> crewmembers to relieve themselves? Did they use a
> bucket, and just toss the contents overboard?

Are you asking about the "old days" of regular steam service, or the more modern "excursion era"?

How about both?

Cheers, Dave

ATSFSuperCap Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No toilets on steam power.     Just stand in
> the gangway and pee.   Of course you get so
> dehydrated on a steam engine you never have to
> pee.
>
> Richard.
An old timer once told me that he and the fireman took turns peeing out the side.  But one time, his fireman was not feeling 100% and had to do a number 2, thus he just pulled down his pants and did it on some newspaper, wiped with some tissues that he carried, then he threw the whole thing into the fire and shut the door.  I'll bet that smoke coming out really smelled.  Knowing this old timer, I'm certain that he told the truth.  What else could the fireman do?  We can ignore everybody except Mother Nature.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

ATSFSuperCap Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No toilets on steam power.     Just stand in
> the gangway and pee.   Of course you get so
> dehydrated on a steam engine you never have to
> pee.
>
> Richard
Wouldn't you worry about dragging in the ballast or getting slammed by a switchstand?

Hillcrest Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How about both?
>
> Cheers, Dave

OK.

Back in the "old days", on coal burning locomotives, the coal pile in the tender was the place to "go".

On oil burning locomotives there was the sand box.

In the more modern era of excursions, during a stop, i.e. photo run-by, etc., one could simply walk back to the crew car, and use the toilet. I've done that many, MANY times.

We found a  way to check bearings if you didmt use the coal pile.   Engineers had differeent preferences where you went.

There is one railroad video online that shows a crew member running for the bushes with a roll of toilet paper in hand. The narrator says he has the "Hershey squirts"! LOL

Someone once told me about a wiseguy on a track gang who squatted and took a No. 2 out the side of the MOW box car door. But his supervisor didn't like it, so he kicked him out the door while in the squatting position,. Dick Yeager may have told me that. He spent some time in track gangs.

Victor Baird



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/26 15:06 by wabash2800.

Heard of an Emporia x-bd brakeman that was hit with the urge with no place to go but the bushes, no paper, chose to use one of his socks.

As an esophageal cancer survivor, I can tell you - TRUER WORDS HAVE YET TO BE UTTERED!!!

Markus V.
The Fort in Indiana

Posted from iPhone

Also to age the broken surfaces of knuckles, if I'm not mistaken. Outdoor plumbing does have its advantages.

Rebecca Morgan
Jacobsburg, OH